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iLoveblueberries
member
Q: How much to you eat out?
iLoveblueberries
member
How often does your family go out to eat at a sit down restaurant?
How often does your family get fast food?
If you dont go out to eat, how do you balance feeling burnt out on cooking all the time?
You can give dollar amounts or percents of income :-)
We are adjusting our budget a little with #2 on the way and I am wondering if I am being realistic or not with our dining our budget! (Sometimes I need a reality check because I will get a little out of control with my attempt to save money 
)
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Re: Q: How much to you eat out?
Oh and Im not help in the money/budget thing. I don't budget and we probably eat at higher end places than most when we eat out. Like a regular date night spot lately for us is $100 for the two of us.
Also, I love to cook usually so the only reasons we eat out are date nights or late activity nights. I don't usually get burned out.
Food aversion make it so hard for me to not eat out so I understand.
All I want is Mexican Food...ALL THE TIME! I try to make it at home but its never the same as what I can get at the local Mexican restaurant. I try to tell myself that at least I get free chips and salsa...free is good :-/
We get takeout/go out to eat maybe one time every 3-4 weeks.
I meal plan so that makes it easier on me as far as cooking goes I think. If I know what I am making and have everything on hand ahead of time, it is real easy for me to put it all together each night.
Out to eat maybe 5-10x per year.
Take out, MH and I typically do a take out night once a week after the kids are in bed.
I enjoy cooking so I probably get less burnt out on it than other people, but especially with 2 kids keeping me busy it can be a chore right now. I try to balance more involved meals with easy meal nights like a Crock Pot meal, something easy on the grill, panini night, homemade pizza, etc. that are just less hands on. I also usually have some freezer meals on hand. Lately I've been planning for one leftovers or freezer meal night a week. Kind of gives me the night off and it makes sure all of our leftovers get eaten
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We usually eat at a sit down restaurant about once a week but now with DD here who goes to bed so early, it's never dinner. We used to have 2-3 meals out a week and probably will as she gets a little older.
We pick up fast food probably once a week, a lot of times that's just for DH and I.
Oh and we probably order takeout once a week, too...typically I do cook our dinner 5-6 nights a week, though.
DD (5 years old) from IUI in 2012
TTC 3rd and final!: IUI #1 in progress!
I eat some sort of Mexican every day.
Eat out in a sit-down place - probably once every 2 months. We always go out to eat after my husband has been on call and that's every two months. Fast food is more, but still only maybe once or twice a month.
We budget $100 eating out every month, but that includes going out for coffee - which is a large part of that budget. And even eating twice at fast food is $60 a month.
Most months we aren't over budget. Some months are way over budget and, like Kate, now that I'm pregnant it's been a bit more due to food aversions and sickness.
I do love to cook, so cooking is easy for me. I meal plan and then just have fun! And in the summer we do a lot of grilling so that makes it easy too because it's less dishes to clean up afterward.
ETA: In my mind fast food and take out are the same, but I live in a town that has literally zero delivery/take out places. In fact there are only two restaurants in town - one which we go to for pizza and the other for everything else. The larger town 30 minutes away has the fast food and more restaurant options, but because of the distance, that's part of why we don't eat out much.
Daughter #1 - February 12, 2010
natural m/c March 11, 2011 at 8 1/2 weeks
Daughter #2 - January 11, 2012
Ectopic pregnancy discovered November 6, 2012 at 6 weeks
Daughter #3 - January 19, 2014
Started our exploration into the world of international adoption June 2012. We have no idea what this is going to look like but we are excited to find out!
Right now we're doing take out a little more than usual because of nights when Andrew is fussy. Trying to break the habit, though, for health reasons.
Sit down restaurant: Once every 1-2 months.
Fast Food: Maybe twice a year if that. We really don't like fast food.
We do take out from local places 1-2x a week, up from once every week or two. We switch it up between pizza, a sushi restaurant, a Mexican place, a burger joint, a chicken place and the local Chinese restaurant. All are non-chains, and far less greasy than their chain counterparts. None are traditional fast food, all items are made after the order is called in.
In order to avoid a food rut I make sure to plan our weekly menu and try to include one meal a week that we haven't tried before. We'll also do a quick dinner of sandwiches, salads, etc some nights, especially as the weather gets warmer. So then we don't have to cook but we're also not getting the extra calories and grease of take out.
Sit down dinner? Rarely. DH's work has been a beat down lately. We only get to see him a couple nights during the week as it is and weekends are packed with daytime activities. I would love a night out. Sigh.
Fast food? It used to be a couple times a week, now maybe once for DH and I. My kids stopped eating the stuff. We are on a mission to cut some of the crap from our diet, and I think that has helped. Plus I'm cheap, er frugal.
Cooking at home - Each week I plan meals that include one of each red meat, chicken, pork, fish, and pasta. The other two nights can be a special request (like pizza or mac n cheese). We try different variations of each. Fish last week was tilapia in a pan, this week is grilled shrimp. It's forcing me to learn to cook new things and gives us a good variety. I try to keep cooking time to 30 minutes so I don't feel like it's taking my whole evening.
C 7.16.2008 | L 11.12.2010 | A 3.18.2013
I cook four to six nights a week, but a least once a week it's a simple pasta dish with garlic bread, sometimes twice a week. It's less in the summertime...we'll just do hot dogs or sandwiches so we don't have to hear up the house with the stove and oven.
Haha, this is exactly how we were for almost my entire pregnancy. Seriously almost every single meal was something that I didn't cook. Between a record high summer with no a/c, all day sickness and an aversion to raw meat, cooking did not happen very often.
Typically we eat out about twice a week, sometimes more, rarely less. This is one area of our budget that could definitely use some improvement. The biggest things that would help would be sticking to our meal plan and keeping outings shorter/packing food for longer outings.
1/12/13 DD was born
4/9/16 DS was born
9/17 CP
6/23/18 BFP EDD 3/4/19
When I take the time to actually meal plan we're pretty good at eating at home mostly. I try and have some easy meals planned for the nights where I'm tired of cooking and dh can make them!
How often does your family go out to eat at a sit down restaurant?
My family and I or just H and I go out to eat together rarely (usually not every month). I go out with my mom's group friends 1-3x per month. H will go out with friends 1x per month. I would say 3x total most months. I budget $25-30 per individual meal without alcoholic drinks.
How often does your family get fast food?
We order in usually 1x every other week- pizza or some other take out. That's typically $35-50 total (for all five of us to eat).
Also my H makes a lunch for himself everyday. (He takes leftovers or he grills up chicken and makes a side that he can take with him like pasta salad or couscous/rice). He used to eat a lot of fast food at work but it was eating up our budget. He now has a set budget for coffee and snacks while at work. He puts the extra he doesn't spend in a rainy day savings for himself. He gets $40/week.
If you don't go out to eat, how do you balance feeling burnt out on cooking all the time?
My H and I trade off cooking. Having him grill really helps because I don't have to heat up the house; I only made the sides.
I also make crockpot meals. That really helps feeling burnt out because you throw stuff in in the morning and its done by dinner- no fuss.
The SAHMs have helped me use a meal plan idea so I'm not just buying everything at the grocery store. If you plan ahead, you buy less and spend less. I even have a list of go-to meals, favorites, and new recipes to try.
SAHM to 4 kiddos... K (5/05), N (4/09), C (11/10) and Baby A 1/13/14
Sit down restaurant - Just once or twice a year... it's always with a larger group for a birthday or special event.
Fast food - Never... not for a meal, anyways. We'll get an ice cream or frozen drink from somewhere if we have a coupon for it maybe 2-3x/year.
I don't really get burned out cooking... it's something I really enjoy. But when I do, I just get a pre-made pizza/lasagna/shepherds pie/etc from Costco and call it a day
Total first world problem!
If you cook, will your H clean up? My H and I trade off this way. He cooks, I clean- and visa versa. Also whomever isn't cleaning gets the kids in pjs/starts bath, then the cleaner comes to help afterward. It works out for us. (I understand pg exhaustion though. I've been wanting to go to bed at 8pm every night.)
SAHM to 4 kiddos... K (5/05), N (4/09), C (11/10) and Baby A 1/13/14
We don't go to sit down restaurants that often, maybe once a month. More if we have friends in town or a special occasion though. And we've been really trying to cut back on fast food, so maybe twice a month for that?
DH and I switch off cooking. I really enjoy cooking though, so more often than not I'm sad when I don't get the chance to cook.
We do budget, and it's pretty tight right now. We have $50 a month for eating out at sit down places. It's not a lot, but we both get fun money as well, and can pitch in with that. Right now if we get fast food it comes from our grocery/food budget, which breaks down to maybe $25 a month for fast food.
The past few months we haven't used the fast food money, which is nice. I'm hoping now that things are evening out financially for us we can increase our eating out budget and be able to go to some nicer places, but right now all of our spare money is going towards paying down bills.
Right now I clean the kitchen while DH does bath time....but maybe now that LO is staying up after bath to play and doesn't need me for nursingit may be time to switch duties a few times a week! Good idea!
For months, DH's time with LO was bathtime but I think he is old enough now that DH can do bedtime routine instead!
How often does your family go out to eat at a sit down restaurant? Maybe 2 times a month
How often does your family get fast food? 6 times a month
If you dont go out to eat, how do you balance feeling burnt out on cooking all the time? I love looking up easy recipes on Pinterest and try to make double so I can freeze part ofit
Baby #2 MC June 2008
Baby #3 Born April 2009
Baby #4 due date February 2015
As a family we don't eat out very often any more because DH is very high strung when we are out to eat with the kids, making it not enjoyable for anyone.
The kids and I go out to eat 1-2x a week for lunch though. We don't eat fast food, but we do eat quasi fast food (Panera, Moe's, and the like) and that is usually where the kids and I usually go so I don't have to worry about leaving sooner than expected if the kids start to act up. We don't budget so I have no idea what it costs us every month.
Twice a month maybe. We usually reserve eating out for date nights since DS is kinda difficult to eat otout with right now.
Sometimes we'll do take out though or grab a quick lunch at panera so it's probably more lie 2-4 times a month.
We go in spurts. On average, I would say we do fast food once or twice a week. We do sit down probably more like once every few weeks. Although, we have decided that for our DS's age (15 months) buffets work well.
Sit down lunch or dinner out, maybe twice a month.
take out maybe once a month
starbucks, farmers market treats, etc about twice a week.
i total all our expenses for our budget. All food for may that wasn't groceries added up to 250. I would like to get that down to under 200, maybe 150 if possible.
Olivia Kate is almost 4!
Diagnosed with autism this year and doing great!
How often does your family go out to eat at a sit down restaurant? Rarely to never! Sit down places are reserved for "dates" with DH a few times a year.
How often does your family get fast food? Before LO2, maybe 2-3 times per week + DH getting food off the lunch truck at work. Right after LO2 was born, we did a lot because we were exhausted, but now due to budget and how sick we were feeling, I've started cooking again and we are down to almost 0 fast food.
If you dont go out to eat, how do you balance feeling burnt out on cooking all the time? I make enough to have leftovers for a couple of days before needing to cook again!
As family we eat at a sit down restaurant once or twice a year. It adds up fast with our family size. As a couple we eat out around every 6 weeks.
As a family we get fast food/ takeout around twice a month but sometimes DH also gets fast food for lunch.
Our kids are getting old enough they they can help out. Both SD and DS1 love to help cook. I make a lot of one dish things and they usually read the recipe and assemble everything. DS just got done putting our lasagna together for tonight.
I always make a meal plan for the week before I go shopping. I try to save time with meal prep by doing things in advance. Ex: tomorrow night we are having stuffed peppers. While I'm cutting those I'll also cut a little more to put aside for another recipe later in the week. I try to stay organized and plan ahead. It also helps that the kids are doing some of the work. I do still get burnt out sometimes but we are saving for a vacation so even when I really don't want to cook I suck it up and do anyway.